Bapepam urged to probe Bank Mashill case
Bapepam urged to probe Bank Mashill case
JAKARTA (JP): Several analysts have urged the Capital Market
Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) and the management of the Jakarta
Stock Exchange (JSX) to investigate a controversial "takeover"
plan of Bank Mashill.
The plan emerged two weeks ago, when Amir Gunawan, a
businessman from Singapore, said he had bought a 17 percent stake
in the Bank.
He also said that he planned to purchase another 16 percent
stake owned by a consortium of four business people -- Tito
Sulistio (an executive of Citra Marga), Jopie Wijaya (Steady
Safe), Hary Tanoesoedibyo (Bhakti Investama) and Titik Probowo
(Pentasena).
Tito's consortium bought 16 percent of Mashill shares on April
9 at Rp 1,850 each.
"I think the JSX's management and the Capital Market
Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) should take action immediately for
the sake of fairness and investors' confidence on market
surveillance," a lawyer at a legal consultantancy registered at
Bapepam told The Jakarta Post.
By having a 35 percent stake in Bank Mashill, Gunawan would be
able to propose changes in the bank's management in the
forthcoming annual shareholders meeting.
Market players have speculated that Gunawan and the consortium
might have plans to take control of the bank. But the bank's
founder, the Kartawidjaja family, declared that they still owned
a 51 percent stake in the bank.
The lawyer, who asked not to be named, said that although it
is difficult for Bapepam to prove any violation, the agency has
the power to take action if it finds a strong indication that the
two investors intend to wrest control of the bank.
Bapepam's regulations only stipulate that any party who wants
to buy a 25 percent stake of a public company, or at least 20
percent with the intention of controlling the company, can only
do so through tender-offer procedures.
"It was Bapepam which made such a regulation and it's only
Bapepam which can punish the errant players," he said.
He said that Bapepam or the JSX's management should
investigate the legality of the company owned by Gunawan,
(Casclemere Enterprises Ltd.) which was mentioned as the new
shareholder of Bank Mashill because investors are not familiar
with Gunawan's name.
"I don't have strong evidence to prove that a group of
investors are planning a "hostile takeover" of Bank Mashill, but
I have seen strong takeover indications," noted economist
Sjahrir, told the Post yesterday.
"I hesitate to believe that the new investors are committed to
the performance of the bank and I'm also afraid that their major
concern is only gains," Sjahrir added.
"As a market player, I would say that some people might have
become jealous to see that other parties had already bought Bank
Mashill's shares because the shares now offer billions of rupiah
in gains," a director of a local securities company, who
preferred anonymity, told the Post.
He said that to some extent the transactions made by Tito's
group and Gunawan were fair.
"But their recent move has created uncertainty on what is
considered fair transactions. Moreover, with their present
positions (Tito is a commissioner of the Surabaya Stock Exchange
and Titik Prabowo is a commissioner of the JSX) they have to be
more prudent," he added.
Bapepam said that it has urged JSX managers to check
everything related to the Bank Mashill case.
"For the time being, we cannot claim that the move of any
parties to control Bank Mashill is against the regulations. We
need to collect more data," a bureau chief at Bapepam, Agus
Muhamad, was quoted by Antara as saying.
Bapepam said in a statement that it is now investigating if
the new investors of Bank Mashill have violated tender-offer and
other rules on market manipulation. (alo)